Pam is an expensive, sophisticated multi-material 3D printer from Pollen

Pollen’s new 3D printer might be a little late to the game, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve that might make it worthwhile. Targeted toward professionals, the Pam has an incredible printing resolution up to 40 μ, but is also able to mix four different materials to create objects with different properties. Think about it as a luxury 3D printer.

I’ve seen a few 3D-printed objects from Pollen, and I have to admit that it looked much better than your average 3D printer. Before printing something, you load your printer with bottles filled with pellets of thermoplastics, silicones, composites or filled materials. And this is just a sample of what you could use as the Pam is compatible with natural fibers, carbon, minerals or metal particles as the max temperature is 350°C.

The Pam works over Wi-Fi or Ethernet and you control it using your web browser. The printing software stack is built into the printer so you don’t have to hook it up to a computer. You can also remotely print objects.

The printer will ship in April of 2017, and it looks like the company has already signed significant deals with companies that plan to integrate 3D printing into their product offering in the future.

This isn’t a 3D printer for the Kickstarter audience. But if your company wants to get serious about 3D printing, this might be a good machine for you.

Right now, pre-orders start at $9,000 (€8,000) not including delivery and VAT. This is just an introductory price as the company plans to sell it for $18,000 (€16,000) after this first production batch — not cheap, but you shouldn’t expect less from a professional 3D printer. While it’s a niche 3D Printer, Pollen could create a healthy business based on this technology.